After a Shadow and Other Stories eBook

“Aha! I see! Well, did Leslie, as
you call him, ever try to get a drink here, since
the landlord promised never to let him have another
drop?”

“Twice to my knowledge.”

“And he refused him?”

“Yes. If you remember, he said, in his
anger, ’May I be cursed, if I sell him
another drop.’”

“I remember it very well.”

“That saved poor Leslie. Jenks is superstitious
in some things. He wanted to get his custom again,—­for
it was well worth having,—­and he was actually
handing him the bottle one day, when I saw it, and
reminded him of his self-imprecation. He hesitated,
looked frightened, withdrew the bottle from the counter,
and then, with curses, drove Leslie from his bar-room,
threatening, at the same time, to horsewhip him if
ever he set a foot over his threshold again.”

“Poor drunkards!” mused the stranger,
as he rode past the neat cottage of the reformed man
a couple of hours afterwards. “As the case
now stands, you are only saved as by fire. All
law, all protection, is on the side of those who are
engaged in enticing you into sin, and destroying you,
body and soul. In their evil work, they have
free course. But for you, unhappy wretches, after
they have robbed you of worldly goods, and even manhood
itself, are provided prisons and pauper homes!
And for your children,”—­a dark shadow
swept over the stranger’s face, and a shudder
went through his frame. “Can it be, a Christian
country in which I live, and such things darken the
very sun at noonday!” he added as he sprung his
horse into a gallop and rode swiftly onward.

XI.

Aliceandthepigeon.

One evening in winter as Alice, a dear little
girl whom everybody loved, pushed aside the curtains
of her bedroom window, she saw the moon half hidden
by great banks of clouds, and only a few stars peeping
out here and there. Below, the earth lay dark,
and cold. The trees looked like great shadows.

There was at change in her sweet face as she let fall
the curtain and turned from the window.

“Poor birds!” she said.

“They are all safe,” answered her mother,
smiling. “God has provided for every bird
a place of rest and shelter, and each one knows where
it is and how to find it. Not many stay here in
the winter time, but fly away to the sunny south,
where the air is warm and the trees green and fruitful.”

“God is very good,” said the innocent
child. Then she knelt with folded hands, and
prayed that her heavenly further would bless everybody,
and let his angels take care of her while she slept.
Her mother’s kiss was still warm upon her lips
as she passed into the world of pleasant dreams.

In the morning, when Alice again pushed back the curtains
from her window, what a sight of wonder and beauty
met her eyes! Snow had fallen, and everything
wore a garment of dazzling whiteness. In the
clear blue sky, away in the cast, the sun was rising;
and as his beams fell upon the fields, and trees,
and houses, every object glittered as if covered all
over with diamonds.